A Persian Purim Feast From The Non-Persian Bride

Have you ever wondered how Persian Jews celebrate Purim? What do they serve to rejoice over their salvation from Haman? After all, their ancestors were directly affected. Up to this point, I could only wonder, because the Persian Jewish community is very insular, and recipes are a closely guarded family secret. Now, it is possible to learn about these Jewish Persian customs from Persian Food from the Non-persian Bride: And Other Sephardic Kosher Recipes You Will Love, whose author, Reyna Simnegar, has a lot in common with Queen Esther.

More after the jump.Reyna Simnegar, whose first name means “queen,” was born in Venezuela to a Catholic family. She attended Catholic school, and thought she was like every other Venezuelan Catholic she grew up with. But there were hints in her family that they were different. For example, there were paintings of Saint Esther in the family home. Saint Esther carries special symbolism for families of anusim (forced converts). Esther represents a Jew who hid her identity until it was safe to reemerge. The anusim transformed her into a Catholic saint. This was a covert way for them to keep her as a beacon of hope that some day they could return to being openly Jewish. At about age fifteen, Reyna’s Aunt Sarah whispered the truth to her. “Our family if of Jewish origin,” she was told.

Reyna Simnegar decided to return to her roots. She underwent an orthodox conversion. She then proceeded to marry a Jewish Persian man. Her mother in law, Mrs. Shahla Simnegar, invited Reyna into the kitchen, and taught her all about the family’s secret recipes and customs. Reyna has published these in a sumptuous new cookbook. This book is not just about Persian food and recipes, but also about Jewish Persian customs. On page 343, Reyna maps out the menu of a Persian Purim feast, from appetizers to desserts. On this menu are such exotic dishes as Chelo (Persian rice) on page 186, and Persian Halvah on page 299.

My family had a lot of fun discovering something completely different to prepare for Purim in this book. We call it Queen Esther’s Ice Cream. On page 301, Reyna Simnegar has a recipe for Bastani, or Saffron Ice Cream. We transformed this recipe into an activity.

Queen Esther’s Ice Cream

3 scoops vanilla ice cream (dairy or pareve)

Rose water

Saffron threads

Pistachio nuts

Each person was served three scoops of vanilla ice cream. We went with premium dairy ice cream.

When Rosa Damascena rose petals are steamed to extract rose oil (used for perfume), what is left behind is called rose water. Rose water has been used in Persian cuisine since ancient times. It imparts a distinctive flavor and aroma to the food. It contains no alcohol. We passed the bottle of rose water around for everyone to smell. We each put a little bit of rose water in our ice cream.

Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world! Saffron spice is made from the stigmas (or threads) of the Crocus sativus flower, which are individually handpicked and then dried. Saffron gives a golden hue to foods, a special aroma, and sweet flavor. We purchased a small sachet of saffron threads. Every family member crumbled a little bit of the beautiful, scarlet dried crocus threads into our ice cream.

Pistachio nuts originated in Persia. They are widely used in Persian recipes. We peeled some unsalted, roasted pistachios (tasting some as we worked of course!). All of us added some to our bowl. Reyna Simnegar’s recipe calls for slivered pistachios, but we were not so refined! We just threw them in whole.

We mixed all the ingredients together, and tasted the ice cream. I wasn’t sure that my children would like the rose water flavor. This is a condiment I never cook with. The resulting ice cream was creamy and crunchy. The flavors of the rose water, vanilla, saffron, and pistachio perfectly balanced each other. This truly felt like an exotic dish from a foreign place to us. It is so delicious; it is genuinely worthy of a queen’s banquet!

Buying Reyna Simnegar’s book, Persian Food from the Non-persian Bridee, is not an exercise in self-indulgence. All proceeds go to charity. She has donated to Chabad houses, where she has been invited to give talks. “My charity of choice is Tomchei Shabbat (feeding the poor for Shabbat) and I also want to support Achnasa Kallah (helping brides to start their life),” she writes in response to my query about her charitable giving. So go ahead and treat yourself to this book. It’s a mitzvah!

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About Ronit Treatman

Ronit Treatman, joined the Philadelphia Jewish Voice in April 2009 as a food writer. In 2010, she became its food editor. In 2013, she was elected president of the Philadelphia Jewish Voice. She was born in Israel, and grew up in Ethiopia and Venezuela. Ronit graduated from the International School of Caracas and is fluent in five languages. She served as a volunteer with the Liaison to Foreign Forces Unit of the Israel Defense Forces. She has a B.S. in international business from Temple University. Ronit is the creator of Hands-On Jewish Holidays.